About Me

I'm a bit of a born-again wargamer! I played many of the Games Workshop games when I was in my teens and early twenties, but left the hobby behind when I went to University. Over the last few years I have gradually got back into it and am literally having a ball! I'll play pretty much anything now, ranging from ancient historical to the far future! I think that I get more out of the painting side of things than actually playing, but that might just be because I get more opportunity. Hence the title...this blog is all about the colour of war!!

Pages

Friday, 14 September 2012

Ahhhh! Feels good to be painting again! This is an Artizan figure from their Thrilling Tales range. I thought he would make a pretty good Threshold agent to round out the two others. Now I just need to find some evil cultists or horrible tentacled fiends for them to do battle with! :)

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Tuesday night saw George and I play the next scenario from the Road to Baghdad book in our Murdistan campaign. In this scenario, the British forces are to isolate and neutralise enemy resistance in and around a vital port facility. Their task is also to ensure that the port infrastructure is not damaged in the action, so no heavy support weapons could be fired in the direction of the opposite table edge. The British are tasking a full platoon to this attack - 6 fireteams and a GPMG support team. An element from a nearby armoured group is on it's way to support the troops but will not arrive for a few minutes.
In defence of the port are numerous cells of Murdistani irregulars, some quite numerous. They also have a bit of a surprise in the form of a Dushka, a DShK 12.7mm HMG. They realise that Coalition forces in the area are strong, but giving them a bloody nose here will cause negative reaction in the Western press and hopefully whip up more support for the insurgency.

The administration buildings. The big building in the foreground is the British main objective and the Murdistanis have strict orders to hold it all costs. The table edge to the left of the shot is the port and must not have heavy weapons fired in it's direction.

I played the British and my plan was to move a fireteam down each flank while covering with overwatch. The flank teams would then be able to enfilade the insurgents and allow the centre units to move up and storm the buildings. All the enemy cells were hidden at the start, but the flank movements seemed to spook them and they opened fire, perhaps a little too early. The cell in the centre of the board were neutralised in short order, but the British left flank fireteam were also all hit.

The Murdistani irregulars come out of the woodwork. One British soldier is down! On the far flank the GPMG and a fireteam make it to cover unscathed.

The cell at the back of the building activate and the rest of the fireteam are hit.

This left me in a bit of a pickle! My left flank attack had fizzled and I had to get troops over to them to check them. In FoF, casualties are checked at the start of the turn to see if they are KIA, seriously wounded, lightly wounded or OK, but only if there are friendly troops are close enough. As is usually the case in asymmetric engagements, KIA regulars are a rich source of VP for the irregular side. The DShK also revealed itself to try and take the GPMG out, but concentrated British fire soon took it out.

The Dushka is revealed and lays down fire on the British troops in position behind a berm.

The British right flank was moving swiftly into position now and the GPMG was set up to provide overwatch fire. In the recent exchanges, a couple of irregular cells had their leaders eliminated which can cripple the teams. In order to do anything they must pass a TQ test which is a 4+ on a D6. This was quite an important development as it prevented the gunmen from reacting to the Brits on their left. There was also at least two rounds of fire where the British body armour and training came up trumps and the militia were unable to make their fire count (10 D6 fired at a team of four men - 5 hits scored and all 5 negated by a string of 7s on the British D8 TQ dice!). Eventually the British fire proved too accurate and the central irregulars were all down and the platoon leader led a rush in to take the position and two prisoners.

The British seize two prisoners!

At this point, things were in the balance. The British would surely win if they could clear out the last resistance in the main administration building, but if any of the left fireteam were KIA, then any more casualties would be very costly. However, another round of fire hit some of the Murdistanis in the main building and, fatefully, they failed their morale check and became shaken. This is bad news for irregulars as it means their morale drops a level (i.e. from a D10 to a D8) and they can't take any action until the end of the next turn. The British troops took the opportunity accorded by the lull in enemy fire to reach their stricken comrades and the dice gods favoured the British - all four men were wounded; two seriously and two lightly. This meant only two VP for the insurgents rather than a potential twelve! And at this point a growl of an engine signaled the arrival of a Challenger II!

The cavalry arrives!

And so the final, climactic turn of the battle arrived! As the tank rumbled across the berm, the insurgents had three RPGs left to deal with it. All three declared their reaction to fire at the oncoming armour, but would the British overwatch be able to deal with them first? A burning tank would be a propaganda nightmare! So, we went through the overwatch and one RPG gunner was hit. And then another! But the third survived! As he lined up his shot we diced for his reaction test, which he lost. The tank turned to face the building, loaded a HE round and fired. The administration building erupted into flame and promptly collapsed on the insurgents. Only one managed to crawl from the rubble, but the British were waiting for him and the game was over!

BOOM!

Another cracking game of FoF! This one was a tougher one for the insurgents, but George and I discussed it afterwards and he thought that he should have waited a bit longer to get the British in their optimum range before springing the ambush. As it was, they revealed a tad too early and the British troops along the berm just whittled them away. I think that the insurgents need to be a bit more mobile in this one, too. There are two big cells that can punish the smaller regular fireteams, but they have to catch them without being subjected to too much overwatch fire. In the end, the coalition forces won hands down, but there was a couple of points mid-game where it could have gone either way and it was certainly dramatic and tense from the outset!

Monday, 10 September 2012

A couple of weeks ago I played the first scenario of the Force on Force scenario book Road to Baghdad with George. He doesn't have any US troops so we substituted a British section with a Viking APC. George's imagi-nation is a country called Murdistan, with such cities as Malki and Stushi (the Scots amongst you will get the joke!) so we decided we should go ahead and play the RtB campaign in his fictional setting.

The first mission was to secure the pumping station for an oil field. I wonder what could motivate them to do that? Anyway, the insurgent Murdistan forces desire to rob the Western decadent infidels of their black gold and set about destroying the pumps. If they do so then they are assured victory. The coalition forces are to prevent that happening, but not at too high a cost!

The compound!

The pump houses are the small buildings to the back.

The British section arrives and begins to breach the fence.

The Murdistan army will not stand idly by, though!

The British (played by me) were quite confident in their ability to control any opposition, especially with the GPMG mounted on the Viking, but the Murdistan unit in the main building popped up and delivered some substantial fire! The overwatch fire proved too little and somehow nearly half the unit was hit. Thankfully there was only one KIA and one or two wounded, but it slowed the British down rather worryingly. The Viking then got to work and the opposition was overcome.

Hubris! In the background the reinforcements arrive!

As the British regained composure and set about the fence again, a small force of Murdistanis entered the compound from the rear gate and began to haul bundles of TNT out of their car. Uh-oh! The British needed to get moving - and fast!

The climax approaches!

The British finally gained the compound and stormed the main building. From there they put down a withering fire on the insurgents, killing most of them. Miraculously, the lone RPG gunner survived and drew a bead on the Viking. The overwatch fire again fizzled out and a streak of smoke flew across the compound and thudded into the APC which immediately brewed up! The cackling insurgents began firing their AKs wildly into the air as the countdown to the bomb approached zero. It was now or never! Another barrage of fire from the coalition section pinned them, allowing two brave troops to dash across the open ground and storm the pump house. The militia was eliminated, but time was up. The red or the blue wire? It came down to the last dice roll of the game and...the bomb was diffused!! The pumps were secure, but with two killed (one in the Viking) and about three or four seriously wounded, the cost was too high and the game was a Murdistani victory! Buggah!

Being quite a short game we reset and played through a second time. This time George was the British and he set about the task with a bit more verve. He smashed the APC through the chainlink fence and the British troops poured through. The insurgents in the main building were quickly subdued and eliminated and all looked good! However, a screech of tyres (in an A-Team-tyres-screeching-on-dirt way) the Murdistan bombers tore through the gate and they piled into the furthest pump house. The British took positions to oust them, but the AK-47 fire made them take cover gaining precious seconds for their enemies. The bomb was planted and the British were against the clock. Again, ferocious fire put down most of the irregulars, but history repeated itself and a streak of smoke arced across the compound and the Viking APC was once more a burning wreck! The crew all survived, though, and George breathed a sigh of relief! And there we were again...the British forces deciding red or blue with seconds on the clock. This time they chose incorrectly, though, and the pump house was blown sky high. The Murdistani forces were again victorious despite being taken out to a man. A glorious sacrifice!

The Viking APC rams into the compound while the bombers make their own dash (the car is hidden behind the pump house.

A burning Viking APC and a burning pump house! And a stern Murdistani warlord points out what happens to infidel invaders!!

Great fun! And a great demonstration of Force on Force. Not a lot of space needed and not a lot of figures, but a highly dramatic and cinematic game was had. It also showcases the quality of the scenario design you get with the campaign books. On paper you'd think the British should walk the scenario, but the insurgents have always got a chance of pulling it off. The coalition forces must always be mindful of casualties and damaging infrastructure, whereas the insurgent commander can mercilessly send his troops to their doom to obtain his objective - because they generally don't give VPs and there are almost always plenty more! :)

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Still here! :) The house move is mostly complete but there's still lots of unpacking to do and I don't have a paint station set up yet, but I hope to have that remedied today. I've got another Stange Aeons figure to paint and then I intend to move onto getting an Infinty force painted up. I've decided to postpone the Ariadna and start something else, but you'll have to wait and see!

In the meantime, I have been gaming a bit. I've managed some Force on Force, a game of Dreadfleet, Battlestar Galactica and a few Memoir '44. I'll post some more thoughts on those later, but for now, keep soldiering on and service will return to normal shortly.